46 STE JOHN LTJBBOCK OK ANTS, BEES, AND WASPS. 



scientific apiarians discountenance it ; and I am convinced that 

 it is wholly useless.' Mr. Dunbar, during a period of nearly forty 

 years, has only lost one swarm ; and that, contrary to his own 

 judgment, was most sonorously tanged " *. 



I cannot from my own experience decide the point. Admitting, 

 however, that a custom so ancient and so widely spread, is 

 unlikely to be entirely without foundation, I would suggest as 

 possible that what the bees hear under these circumstances are 

 not the sounds which affect us, but the high upper tones near 

 and beyond our range of hearing. Mr. Gr. Darwin and Lord 

 Hayleigh, whom I have consulted on the subject, inform me 

 that the presence of these inaudible overtones is unquestionable. 

 Mr. Darwin says : — " The high overtones (generally non-harmonic 

 overtones) are very strong within the limits of audibility ; and 

 it is almost certain, though not experimentally verified, that the 

 overtones beyond the limits of audibility are strong also." 



On "Wasps^. 



Industry of Wasps. — The statement that wasps are as indus- 

 trious as bees has been received with some incredulity, and has 

 been by many regarded rather as a perhaps pardonable exagge- 

 ration arising from individual partiality, than as the strict and 

 sober truth, 



I thought therefore that it would be interesting to compare a 

 wasp and a bee under similar circumstances for a whole day. 

 Accordingly, on the 6th August I accustomed a wasp and three 

 bees to come to some honey put out for them on two tables, one 

 allotted to the wasp, the other to the bees. The last bee came at 

 7.15 P.M. The wasp continued working regularly till 7.47, 

 coming at intervals of between 6 and 7 minutes. Next morning, 

 when I went into my study a few minutes after 4 a.m., I found 

 her already at the honey. The first bee came at 5.45 ; the second 



ate. 



The wasp occupied about a minute, or even less, in supplying 

 herself with a load of honey, and made during the day, as shown 

 below, no less than 116 visits to the honey, or 232 journeys be- 

 tween my room and her nest, during which she carried ofi" rather 

 more than 64 grains of honey. The bee sucked from 6 to 16 



* ' The Honey-bee,' by Ed. Bevan ,p. 91. 



